You Red Sox fans may remember Charlie Zink.

Zink was a relatively obscure minor league knuckleballer who made his big league debut against the Texas Rangers in August when Tim Wakefield was injured.

It didn't go well. Staked to a 10-run lead, he couldn't hold it, getting bombed in a game the Red Sox eventually won 19-17. Charlie Zink was not ready for prime time.

I was reminded of Charlie Zink last week as I watched Sarah Palin in the vice presidential debate.

There is only one criterion by which to judge a vice presidential nominee. Would she or he be able to step up if the president were incapacitated?

Only a strong Republican ideologue could claim Palin is able to make that leap.

For the sake of the nation, I hope she is soon able to return to the governor's residence in Juneau.

Meanwhile, the country's economic future has been hanging in the balance as Congress has dithered. Earlier in the week, the House voted down an economic rescue bill endorsed by the leaders of both parties. While there is much distasteful in the rescue package, no one has developed a credible alternative.

Moreover, those who best understand the situation, in or out of government, agree that the bill is a reasonable approach to dealing with the financial crisis. The government is stepping in with a substantial investment, but it also will buy assets that have substantial worth. There is bipartisan oversight and measures to ensure that the companies involved do not advantage themselves. The alternative is likely to be a deep recession costing us much more in jobs and incomes.

Fortunately the Senate stepped in to pass a slightly modified bill on Wednesday and, on Friday, the House finally mustered up the courage to follow suit. Sad to say Mike Michaud, Maine's 2nd District representative, voted against passage. He was the only member of Maine's delegation not to support the rescue plan. He seemed to be playing to the grandstand rather than responding to the crisis – not a pretty performance.

On a more positive note, the members of the Portland Chamber of Commerce were treated to an excellent debate on the issues by Sen. Susan Collins and her opponent in this year's race, 1st District Congressman Tom Allen.

Both candidates are able and accomplished. Both have a record of service at the national level that is impressive. Both are political moderates.

I am sure I was not alone in thinking how fortunate we are to have two such fine choices to represent us in the U.S. Senate.

I have noted in this column before that Tom Allen is a good friend, so I will not pass judgment on the debate except to say that it is worth watching. The candidates clearly highlight their policy differences, and there are meaningful differences.

The debate will be rerun every Tuesday this month on Time Warner Cable, Channel 5.

All of this underscores that we are in the heart of the four-year presidential cycle. I believe the (finally) outgoing Bush administration will go down as one of the worst in history.

The war in Iraq was a colossal blunder, one that neither of George W's immediate predecessors would have made. Almost certainly a Gore administration would not have made this kind of pre-emptive incursion either.

The Bush administration then compounded the error by ushering in a laissez-faire regulatory style with enormous tax cuts and few spending constraints. It took a few years, but now the country is paying a price in a current economic crisis that is the gravest we have faced since the Depression. The chickens have come home to roost.

All this and I have yet to mention the corrosive political style that has diminished our Democracy and made it almost impossible for Congress to reach a consensus on any difficult or contentious issue.

Make no mistake, it will take us years to dig out from under the detritus of this administration. We may never be able to fully recover.

Nonetheless, Nov. 4 is the time for Americans to stand up and be counted. We have learned some painful lessons in the past eight years. It is time to put these behind us and move on.